Boilers, furnaces and stoves: Value chain
From global boiler groups to stove makers in villages
What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.Steel, refractories and burners go into boilers and furnaces made by a mix of global groups and national specialists; fuel suppliers and installers connect them to users. Household cooking runs on LPG distribution networks and on small stove makers.
The chain
Fuel supply Industrial boiler makers Home boiler makers Cookstove makers Installers and service Users| Stage | What happens | Leading companies |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel supply | Gas utilities, oil companies and LPG distributors deliver fuel; in Africa LPG accounts for more than 70% of people with clean cooking access. | TotalEnergies (France)511 |
| Industrial boiler makers | Design and build fire-tube and water-tube boilers, burners and economisers; markets are competitive and price sensitive (B&W). | Babcock and Wilcox (United States) Cleaver-Brooks, owned by Miura since 2024 (United States and Japan) Bosch Industriekessel (Germany) Thermax (India) Harbin Electric (China) Doosan (South Korea)7914151617 |
| Home boiler makers | Mass-produce wall-hung gas boilers and combi units; Vaillant describes itself as the global market leader in central heating units. | Vaillant Group (Germany) BDR Thermea (Netherlands) Viessmann, part of Carrier (Germany and United States) Ariston (Italy) A. O. Smith (United States)818 |
| Cookstove makers | Make improved biomass, charcoal, LPG and electric stoves for low-income markets, often financed by carbon credits. | BURN Manufacturing (Kenya)10 |
| Installers and service | Heating engineers fit and tune boilers; industrial service firms clean heat transfer surfaces, test steam traps and adjust burners. | 3 |
| Users | Factories (process heating is about 70% of US manufacturing process energy), buildings and around 2 billion people who still cook with wood, charcoal and similar fuels. | 125 |
Sources
- Renewables 2025: Renewable heat International Energy Agency, 2025
- Quadrennial Technology Review 2015, Chapter 6 Technology Assessment 6I: Process Heating US Department of Energy, 2015
- Benchmark the Fuel Cost of Steam Generation, Steam Tip Sheet #15 (DOE/GO-102012-3391) US Department of Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, 2012
- Clean Cooking in Africa 2026: Executive summary International Energy Agency, 2026
- Industrial Boilers Market Share (market research; used only for smaller packaged-boiler names) Global Market Insights, 2024
- Europe Residential Boiler Market Share (market research) Global Market Insights, 2023
- Japanese Boiler Manufacturer Acquires Cleaver-Brooks ACHR News, 2024
- BURN Manufacturing, sector directory Clean Cooking Alliance, 2025
- TotalEnergies Takes Action to Give Access to Clean Cooking to 100 Million People in Africa and India TotalEnergies via Business Wire, 2024
- Babcock and Wilcox Enterprises, Form 10-K for 2025 Babcock and Wilcox Enterprises / US SEC, 2026
- About Bosch Industriekessel (company page) Bosch Industriekessel, 2025
- Integrated Annual Report 2024-25: Corporate overview Thermax, 2025
- Annual Report 2023 Harbin Electric Company Limited, 2024
- EIB supports Vaillant Group's research and development for climate-friendly heating systems European Investment Bank, 2022